To Be in the Majors
by Allie.A.Chen
Summary: Akira Shigeno hopes to follow her father and play in the Majors. Shou Satou is her childhood friend with the same goal in mind. However, being a girl, she has the overcome the impossible. Will she ever stand on the same pitcher's mound her father does?
1. Prologue

To Be in the Majors—Prologue: I Want to Play Baseball

Disclaimer: I don't own Major, I'm just borrowing some of the characters and the idea for my own fanfiction.

This story is centered around Goro Shigeno's daughter; most of the main characters do not appear in the manga or anime so please don't get confused.

Also as a little side note, this is a very short chapter; it is designed only to start of the story's main goal. Otherwise, please continue!!!!

* * *

It was nearing nightfall and Akira Shigeno was lying on her side on the couch, watching a baseball game intently from the television. It was a game between two teams, the Jays, and one she knew very well: the Hornets. The scoreboard showed the game was at the bottom of the 8th inning, and the Hornets held a dangerous one point lead. She waited as the usual procedure happened, and the Hornet's coach appeared, announcing a player change. The game continued, and the announcer doubled his enthusiastic commentary in tune with the crowd's cheers.

"It's the bottom of 9th inning, and with two outs and no runner on base—" Akira shut off the TV, smiling to herself, she rolled onto her back. She didn't need to watch the results to know them, _Daddy won't let anyone pass_, she thought.

"Ehh!" Kaoru Shigeno shouted from the kitchen, "Aki, did you turn off the TV?"

_You're really loud._ Akira thought as she walked nonchalantly into the kitchen where her mother busied herself with chopping vegetables. "I wonder when Daddy can come back again." She muttered to herself.

"Don't you want to listen to what happens?" Kaoru asked her daughter, "hey, where are you going!?"

"Going to practice a little," Akira answered, shutting the door in her mother's face.

"Geez, why did you have to have your father's personality?" Kaoru sighed, and returned to cooking dinner. "Ah!" She ran to the door, "Toshiya-kun is coming over today, don't forget to say hi to him!"

Akira walked slowly down the driveway tossing a rubber ball slowly up and down in her left hand. Her house was large and it had a special area to practice pitching.

She sat down and started stretching and thinking aimlessly to herself. _Mom's playing softball now, but before she was with Daddy in Little League. I don't want to play softball though, I want to play baseball…_Her thoughts ended as she heard two car doors slam followed by a loud shattering of glass from inside the house. "Mom…" Akira muttered.

"Aki-chan!" A familiar voice called from the driveway, and a boy her age ran towards her, leading Toshiya Satou with him to the small area Akira was practicing in.

"I guess I'll go help Kaoru-san," Ryouta Satou said, waving to Akira.

"I'll be there in a bit," Toshiya called back to her.

"Hey, Shou-chan!" Akira ran to meet her friend; looking at Toshiya she smiled, "Hi Satou-san!" She said. Toshiya was also playing baseball in America but like her father, he came back once in a while.

"I see you haven't changed at all, Aki-chan," Toshiya smiled back at her, and she laughed as she went to hug her father's friend. "I think I'll go and greet your mother, I have an important message from your father for her," he winked, and headed for the door.

"Aki-chan, do you want to play?" Shou asked when his father disappeared into the house. Akira and Shou had been friends since they were two, playing baseball and watching their fathers play in America, and although they weren't on the same team, they knew their father's were still friends.

"Sure," Akira answered, I'll get your bat and a mitt. Like their parents, Akira had taken up pitching and Shou, a catcher.

"Arigato," Shou said when Akira handed him the usual mitt and bat he used when he was over. Since he frequently visited after kindergarten, they had set aside a mitt and bat for him.

"Hey, Shou-chan, I've been thinking…" Akira said as they tossed the rubber ball back and forth.

"Yeah?" He replied, throwing the ball back at her. "Ready?" he asked and swatted down in his catcher's position.

She nodded, and took a deep breath before carrying out her pitching form and throwing a fast ball into Shou's waiting mitt. It made a low thud as it made contact with the mitt. "Nice one!" Shou called, "I think that was faster than the ones you threw two days ago!"

She sighed and smiled. "I've been thinking…your Mom's in a professional baseball team right?" She called to Shou.

"Yeah, but she's only their pitcher during a friendly game and their batting pitcher." Shou replied throwing the rubber ball back at Akira. His mother didn't quit baseball for softball like Akira's mother; rather, she had continued to play even though she couldn't play in a real game.

"I see," Akira caught the ball and rolled it in her palm. "Hey Shou-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's make a miracle." She smiled at him, still rolling the rubber baseball in her hand.

"Ehh?"

"I want to be the first girl to play baseball in the Majors!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

I hope you liked this chapter! Of course I plan the make the next chapter longer, and I am in no position to say I know what the official ending of this fanfiction will be. I will be clear to you though, I do intend to continue this.

I shall note however, before watching Major (which is my favorite sports anime), I had very little interest in baseball. However, I do like it, surprisingly and I am currently taking an interest in watching professional games (However I don't have a favorite team yet). Thus, I do not know everything to the game but I will try my hardest on researching about it.

Lastly, please PLEASE review. If you like it in anyway, please leave a comment. I don't know if my story is good unless people review!


	2. Yokohama Little

To Be in the Majors—Chapter One—Yokohama Little

Disclaimer: I don't own Major; I'm just borrowing some of the characters and the idea for my own fanfiction.

* * *

"One more before I go!" Akira said to her father as he played catcher in front of their house. It was the first day of fourth grade, meaning that she could try out for Little League baseball. She had seen Shou almost everyday during the summer, both of them practicing from morning till afternoon. They had started practicing with a hardball two weeks prior, and Akira was back to her old form when throwing one, and both could hit it well for a homerun.

Goro Shigeno punched his mitt and said, "Ah, throw your best one!" He was back for a quick two days, as the Hornets entered the end of the season.

Akira nodded, and took a deep breath. Unlike her father, she had a wide variety of different pitches, but she knew out of all of them, her fast ball was her favorite and best one. She took her stance and threw, it few into his mitt with a loud pop. "Nice one!" A new voice called.

"Shou-chan! Kay, I'm going! Tell mom, I don't need her to pick me up!" Akira shouted as she ran to pick up her backpack. She quickly added her bat and glove before re-zipping it. Shou had arrived as usual to walk to school with her. "And I probably won't be home to send you off like Mom and Emi, but don't let the Hornets lose another game!"

"Tsk, it's not my fault they didn't send me out to play." Goro muttered, but waved to his daughter.

Akira laughed under her breath, "We're finally in fourth grade huh?" She said to Shou. They had waited so patiently that they were impatient to be able to join a Little League team. They hadn't been told by their parents that they couldn't join, but the time when they had talked about it at Akira's house when her grandfather, the former Ocean's pitcher, was visiting, he had firmly told them not to think about it until they reached forth grade.

Shou nodded, "about time."

"I wonder where Yokohama Little hold's their practices." Akira murmured. "Got any clue's Shou-chan?"

"Daddy said they have a field a few blocks from school in that big park."

"Ehh...I forgot, Shou-chan's dad was in Yokohama." Akira said, bringing her hands behind her head like a boy. "Lucky." She grinned widely at Shou who just sighed.

* * *

"So…it's somewhere here right?"

"Daddy said it was hard to miss…" Shou trailed off as they both listened to a low thud of a metal bat followed my muted shouting.

"This way!" Akira said.

Moments later, they had arrived near a large fenced up field. "It's huge." Shou said as he watched a few people close to his age in baseball uniforms run past him, while others stood practicing batting and fielding.

"Ehh, they're not bad." Akira commented as she too watched the team. A man sat on a high chair as he shouted instructions; he wore a hat and a pair of sunglasses.

"Let's go, Aki-chan." Shou pulled her towards where the coach sat in his chair. "Excuse me, oji-san!"

"Right field, you need to move in a little more." Kashimoto shouted to Kyo before turning. "Can I help you?" He asked as he got off his chair and moved towards where Akira and Shou stood; the fence separated them.

"This is Yokohama Little right? I'm Shigeno Akira, I pitch and bat left, I wish to join this team." She announced loudly without waiting for the answer of her first question.

Following his best friend's lead Shou walked back a step and said, "I'm Satou Shou, I bat right and my position is catcher, nice to meet you." He said politely.

By the time Shou had finished his introduction, small group all wearing Yokohama's uniform had finished running. "Coach!" A tall boy who led the group shouted and jogged towards Kashimoto. "We've completed our ten laps warm-up." He said.

Kashimoto turned to the boy. "Good job Kenta, you guys can take a ten minute break. Tell Hikaru and the rest they have a break too." He directed.

"Are these people trying out?" Kenta asked as he looked at Akira and Shou.

"Yes," Akira said.

"Ehh, fourth graders huh?" Kenta said and laughed. "And a girl too. You know, Yokohama isn't a playground for people who want to join because we're the best in the region."

"That's enough Kenta," Kashimoto said; as Kenta followed the rest of his team mates, Kashimoto turned back to Akira and Shou. "You can come in."

"Aki-chan, your not upset by what Kenta-kun said were you?" Shou asked quietly as they walked towards the iron gates.

"Che, of course not." Akira said; she didn't really care what other people said.

"Do you have spikes?" Kashimoto asked once they had walked back to where he was standing, this time inside the fenced baseball field.

"Of course." Akira said, and Shou nodded. "I even wore shorts to school today."

"I'll see what you can do then." Kashimoto said, ignoring her last comment.

_How boring,_ Akira thought as she and Shou followed Kashimoto onto the mainfield. "You're testing us aren't you?" When he didn't answer she continued, "not everyone's allowed on the team right? And only some of those who are accepted can play on the starter team right?"

"Aki-chan…" Shou warned Akira and looked warily at Kashimoto.

"It's true, and you still feel up to it?" Kashimoto answered blankly.

"Of course." Akira grinned widely. _At least you don't hide anything._

Kashimoto's expression didn't change as he looked at Akira's confident face. "Akira, you will start with just throwing some pitches, Shou can be catcher." He directed. "Hikaru," He shouted, "throw her a ball."

A boy with short red hair nodded from Kenta's side. Most of the team where leaning against the fence or sitting down as they watched.

"Here!" Hikaru shouted as he threw a ball to Akira.

"Domo." Akira said back and quickly caught the ball in her glove. "Shou-chan, ready?" She called, and rolled the ball around in her hands as she walked nonchalantly to the mound. She kicked a large piece of dirt from the mound and stepped on the rubber.

"Aki-chan, I'm ready!" Shou called from the base. He quickly crouched down in his position; he hadn't brought his protective gear because it was impossible to fit it in his back pack. He punched his catcher's mitt and positioned it in the middle of the striking zone. He wasn't afraid of being hit with the ball; he knew Akira had really good control and even so he could catch the ball without much trouble.

"Hey, hey, is he really going to catch a hard ball without any protective gear? Coach should at least give him a helmet." Naoki, said to Kenta. His black hair was tied in a stubby ponytail.

"He doesn't need to worry, even if that girl knows how to throw, it won't be fast enough to hurt him." Kenta smirked.

Akira's mouth twitched as she hid a smirk of her own; Kenta had commented loud enough for her to hear on the field. _Let's go Shou-chan_; she exchanged smiles with Shou as she started her windup. Taking a step she threw a fastball directly to Shou's waiting mitt. It made a satisfying thud and she stood up again.

"Nice on!" Shou shouted and threw the ball back. She caught the ball and tossed it up and down.

"Oi-oi, that's not funny." Jirou mumbled from where he was standing, next to Hikaru. "How fast was that?"

"Probably 120 kmph (about 74.5 mph), maybe a little more." Hikaru said. As he watched Akira pitch another ball to Shou; like the one before, it popped loudly into the mitt.

Akira smiled to herself as she caught the ball Shou threw. _I guess I should show off a little more_, she thought. "You better catch this one Shou-chan!" She called as she threw a slider to him.

"Are you serious?" Naoki shouted as he watched Shou successfully catch the perfect slider with ease. "She's in _fourth grade_!"

"Ok, I've seen enough." Kashimoto said, he made no remark on her last breaking ball. "Kenta, Sora." He shouted and returned to looking at Akira and Shou. "Get your bats."

Akira watched narrow eyed as Kenta pitched some balls to Sora. They were a mix between fastballs and curves; the fast balls were close to 100 kmph (about 62 mph) and his curveball was also notable.

"Do you want to go first?" Shou asked.

"No, you can."

Shou nodded and picked up his bat and the helmet Kishimoto had lent him and walked to the batter's box. "When ever you're ready." Kishimoto said to them.

Kenta smiled at Shou who was taking a few practice swings and then looked at his catching partner.

"Onegaishimasu," Shou called as he stepped in the batter's box. From what he had seen from the few pitches Kenta had throw, he was sure he could hit them. He watched Kenta as he took his pitching position and threw the ball.

The contact when the bat meet the ball created a loud ping sound as it soared out of the field. "No way." Kenta swore as he watched the ball bounce outside the fenced enclosure.

"Oi, how is it possible that two monsters appear at the same time." Jirou mumbled; he wasn't surprised anymore, but watched closely.

"Don't call them monsters, I think geniuses are more suited." Hikaru stated.

Shou took a practice lap around the bases and walked towards Akira. "As expected." She stated and walked towards the batter's box.

"You're kidding me." Kenta stated as he watched wide-eyed as Akira switch places with Shou. Sora got up from his position and jogged towards Kenta.

"Calm down," He said soothingly to Kenta, "just throw like you normally do, this isn't a real match." He said and returned to the catcher's box. He looked as Akira stepped into the left batter's box; this was the girl who threw a 120 kmph ball.

Akira lifted her bat and crouched into her position. She watched nonchalantly as Kenta lifted his leg and stepped into his throw.

"Ball," Sora called as it soared millimeters away from her face. She had let it wiz by, only dodging it nimbly by stepping back. She returned to her position and watched as Kenta caught Sora's ball with a frustrated expression.

The next ball he threw became an inside curveball, and she quickly drew back her hands and solidly connected the bat and ball. "Wow, that flew!" She commented as she jogged around the bases when her ball landed cleanly outside the fence.

"Wow," Jirou exclaimed, watching Akira run back to Shou who exchanged a high five with her.

"Coach, your decision?" Akira asked as she looked expectantly at Koshimoto.

"You really are your father's child." Koshimoto said, taking off his sunglasses and smiling. "Both of you are." He turned around. "Starting tomorrow, Shigeno Akira and Satou Shou are going to join the starting team, treat them well."

"Ehh!?" Jirou shouted. "You mean, the Shigeno Goro and the Satou Toshiya, Shigeno and Satou?"

"Really?" Kenta exclaimed burning holes into Akira and Shou who both smiled uncomfortably.

"What are you saying Old Man?" Akira whispered.

"I mean nothing, and you are to call me _coach_, and not Old Man." Koshimoto said.

"_Coach._"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Another chapter finished! As promised, it's longer and I really hope you liked it! I fast forwarded a few scenes to the chapter start because I want to move onto Akira's major baseball career. I'm not exactly sure what the next chapter will be word-to-word but I've got a pretty good idea and I hope I can post it ASAP!

Thank you for reading this and please continue to review!


	3. World Championships

To Be in the Majors—Chapter Two—World Championships

Disclaimer: I don't own Major; I'm just borrowing some of the characters and the idea for my own fanfiction.

* * *

"Kenta, Sora, Jirou, Hikaru, Yoshiro, Norio, Seiji, Takashi, Ken." Koshimoto called as he assigned the starting players in the practice match against Kasaoka Little. "Get ready, you'll start today."

"Che, who's heard of an ace who doesn't start off a match?" Akira grumbled as she watched Kenta and Sora in the bullpen while the rest of the team practiced fielding while Ryoga, a six grader who usually played left field hit balls to them.

"It's only a practice game, Aki-chan, I'm sure Coach has his reasons," Shou calmly explained to his best friend.

Akira looked coolly at Shou; he wore the same Yokohama uniform as she did. The uniform was mostly white except for the small details such as the red Yokohama Little (YL) logo on the left side, the red cap, and red undershirt. She wore her hair in a high ponytail, rather than her usually low pig tails, and used bobby pins to keep her cap on without falling off when she threw a pitch. Her arms rested on her knees and she rested her chin on them as she looked at her teammate from the dugout. "Yeah, I don't care what his reasons are, I just want to play." She said mildly.

"Coach only allows a maximum of 40 pitches per person during practice games, especially if there's another game the day after tomorrow." Ryoga said as he returned to the dugout.

"Che, what's with those lame rules?"

"Lame?" Koshimoto repeated from where he sat on the bench in the dugout. His legs where crossed and he wore the same Yokohama jersey uniform, as well as his sunglasses. "If I were to put you on the field I highly doubt you'll ever surrender it, plus we have another practice match with Totsuka West Little later this week."

"Yeah, yeah." Akira said dully and referred to watching the other team. The coach was shorter than Koshimoto by at least a third of a meter; he wore the grey Kasaoka Little uniform and wore a whistle around his pudgy neck. He shouted directions to the nine players who scattered in front of the opposite dugout which they temporarily occupied.

A few minutes later Koshimoto reassembled the team in front of the dugout and walked to meet the other coach.

"It's been a long time since I've last seen you Koshimoto-san." Kasaoka's coach said as he took Koshimoto's into a handshake.

Koshimoto nodded, "same goes for you Watanabe-san."

Watanabe smiled and looked over Koshimoto's shoulder which was just in line with his forehead. "I see you've stuck to most of the line up you had last year, except Yamamoto-kun and Saga-kun isn't here are they?" His eye's quickly glided over the dugout pausing momentarily to meet Akira's eye and relaxed to look back to Koshimoto. "Junior League?" He guessed.

"Yes and no. Yamamoto Aoi's father's job transferred him to America." Koshimoto didn't smile.

"America…I see." Watanabe said lightly. "Since it's not a formal game, is it ok for us to start in the field first?"

"That's fine, then, we'll alternate sides for the Umpires." Koshimoto said and walked back to Yokohama's dugout to get his mask. "Hikaru you're up first." Hikaru nodded and Shou handed him his bat and a helmet. "The rest of you, make sure to keep moving." He order and walked with Hikaru to the home plate.

"Is it me, or is the Old Man grumpier than usual?" Akira commented.

"Coach does seem a little irritated." Shou agreed. "After talking with Coach Watanabe….but they seem to know each other."

"Our Coach doesn't like Watanabe-coach very much." Kenta stretched in his seat. "It's not like his team is all that great either, well except for a few; he's really aloof and uses sarcasm a lot." Kenta explained and laughed. "You can tell he's out for some of the team, you know, he wanted Yamamoto so badly, but of course none of us would go to him even if we were assured a regular position."

"Why is that?" Shou said at the same time Akira said. "How do you know?"

"Proof that man's a right out sneaky thief!" Jirou, said. "He's _obsessed _with _obtaining_ good players." Jirou said with a tone of disgust. "I was walking home with Hikaru a few months ago and he appeared an almost _begged_ Hikaru to join his team."

"Why?"

"Dunno," Jirou said. "It seems to me, he's aiming for the Little League World Championships. But for that, you have to be _really_, and I mean really good."

"I've heard of that," Shou said; on the field a tall boy threw a few pitches and Hikaru quietly swung his bat. "But doesn't Japan usually pick significant players from different teams?"

"Seems to me he's totally out of wack." Akira said before Koshimoto's whistle blew. She looked at Watanabe as her mind rolled over the idea of the World Championships.

"The game will be six innings, Kasaoka Little League will start on defense first and Yokohama Little League on offense. The first batter will be Arai Hikaru." Koshimoto introduced. A few spectators who came to watch the non official game clapped.

The tall boy dropped the powder bag and stepped onto the rubber at the same time Hikaru took his position in the batter's box. "Play ball." Koshimoto called and put on his umpire mask.

The boy nodded as he received a sign from his catcher and quickly pitched the first ball, high, inside, and near Hikaru's head. "Strike!" Koshimoto said when Hikaru didn't swing at the ball.

"Nice one!" Kasaoka's catcher threw the ball back to his partner. He studied Hikaru; he along with the rest of his teammates where warned of Yokohama's lead off batter. He looked back at Yori and gave a signal. _A fastball low and outside_.

Yori nodded and returned to a standstill before starting his windup. A moment after he released the ball, Hikaru's bat connected sharply as he hit the ball low towards center field. By the time the ball returned to infield he had already reached second base.

As the game progressed, Seiji batted second, Jirou third, Sora fourth, Ken fifth, Norio sixth, Kenta seventh. When the game reached the third inning, Yokohama lead by two points after Kenta walked three players and four base hits and two outfields, two of the outs where caught in midair.

"Akira, get ready, Kenta's reached his limit on the amount of pitches he can throw." Koshimoto said as he returned to the dugout after Kasaoka got their third out when Ken's ball was caught when it flew to center field.

"About time," Akira grumbled and stood up and yawned.

"If you're not up to it, I can send in Futa instead." Koshimoto warned.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Akira perked, and quickly took her glove and jogged onto the field, stretching her left arm all the while.

"Shou, you'll switch with Sora so get you're equipment on." Koshimoto said.

Shou nodded and quickly got up and went to retrieve his shin guards, chest protector, and mask.

"Koshimoto-san is switching out both Sora and Kenta?" Watanabe reasoned as he saw both Sora and Kenta sit down. "Futa seems to be still in the dugout." He mumbled as he spotted Futa still sitting.

"Coach, look!" Daichi, a tall player who plays shortstop said. "Are they putting out a girl?"

"And look at that short kid over there wearing the catcher's equipment."

Watanabe chuckled and put on the umpire's mask. "Yori, you're up next."

"There will be a pitcher and catcher change. Shigeno Akira for Ito Kenta, and Satou Shou for Koga Sora." Koshimoto said.

A low murmur ran down the audience and Kasaoka's dugout. Akira sneered quietly to herself as she tossed the powder bag up and down, in her hand.

"You ready?" Shou asked as he approached her with his equipment fully on.

"Of course," Akira smirked and dropped the small bag.

"We don't want to give anything away so just throw a few fastballs to warm-up." Shou smiled and handed Akira a ball.

Akira nodded silently and continued to stretch her left arm, walking in a circle around the pitcher mound. Shou smiled at his best friend's silence, he didn't need her to talk to tell how excited she was. It wasn't an official game but still a full fledge little league game with two teams and six innings on the board.

When Shou walked back to the home plate, he turned to Watanabe. "Can we toss a few balls first?"

"Of course." Watanabe smiled widely. "Her name is Akira-chan right?" He grinned wider.

Shou's eyes narrowed. "Don't throw her name around so casually _Old Man_." He said without his usual lightness and put on his mask.

"Here it goes!" Akira said as she started her windup, she quickly released the ball and it popped loudly into Shou's mitt.

"Nice one!" Shou called, and stood up to throw the ball back to her.

She grimaced and stretched her arm. Retaking her position she exchanged a few more throws with Shou. "Ok, ready!" She called.

Shou nodded and looked up to see Watanabe's shocked face. "We're ready!"

"H-how fast is that!?" Watanabe murmured and turned to yell at his dugout. "Check the radar gun!"

"I-it's 114 k-kmph (70.8 mph) sir!"

"It seems so much faster. As if it's in the 120s," Watanabe said. "Even so…"

Akira grinned, "So are you impressed Old Man?" She called from her position on the mound, and lifted her glove to receive Shou's ball.

"Play!" Watanabe said solemnly and cover his face with the mask.

"You see, _my_ goal is to concurred the World Champs, _and_ play in the Majors!" She said, as she started her windup. Yori bent his knees as he prepared for her pitch. Less than 3 seconds later the ball was in Shou's mitt.

"Strike!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry that this chapter took soooo long to come out! I've re-written this chapter in its entirety almost five times! I actually don't know what was going on in my head when I was writing this! I was like _oh! I like this, so I'll write whatever comes up!_ Yeah, Watanabe totally just popped up into my head and I liked him so I wanted to have him in this chapter!!! Also I never knew how hard it is to write a baseball game!! I know I was almost avoiding it this chapter! And I really don't know how I'm going to write a whole game…at least Little League is 6 innings, but if I ever get Akira into Major League…I want to hide in a small corner just thinking of it!!!

School's starting!!! Yes, I'm going into 9th grade this year! And I'm _totally_ freaking out!!! I have 2 more days till school starts and I haven't finished my summer work (which is due on the first day of school!!!! YARGH!)!!! So I'm going to take the next two days off so I can focus on finishing the second book and working on my writing assignments! But I'll start writing the next chapter after I finish!

Again I'm really sorry that the "asap" I said last chapter turned out to a little over a week!!! But please don't hate me!!! I have a lot of things going on!!!

Thank you for reading!!! And please continue your wonderful reviews!!!


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